Many people say that today is no different than any other time in history. “Sure, things look bad now, but this was also the case during World Wars I and II. Things have a way of working out so that things eventually return to some semblance of normal.”
I understand why so many question Jesus’ soon return given the fact that it’s been two thousand years since He promised to return.
In spite of the long wait, I’m convinced that Jesus’ appearing is imminent because of the myriad of signs telling us that the Tribulation period is right on our doorstep.
I have compiled a list of 12 signs that tell us we are rapidly running out of normal.
If you are weary of waiting and long for the day when you will meet Jesus in the air, I am writing to encourage you; He’s coming soon.
If you doubt that the Rapture will happen anytime soon, please take some time to review the following points and read the supporting links.
- Israel’s Miraculous Rebirth as a Nation
Did you know that Isaac Newton predicted that Israel would reappear as a nation? Based on his in-depth study of the books of Daniel and Revelation, he made that startling prediction over 250 years before it happened.
Newton correctly recognized that the fulfillment of biblical end-times prophecies requires Israel’s renewed existence. He also wrote that Israel would build a third temple once it became a nation. [i]
On May 14, 1948, Israel miraculously became a nation again. The amazing rebirth of Israel fulfilled the words of Isaiah 66:8, which predicted that it would happen in a “day.” Only God could resurrect a nation that had not existed for two-thousand years, supernaturally protect it amid countless wars, and bring it to a place of prosperity such as Israel enjoys today.
Did I mention that only God could such a thing?
Israel’s remarkable rebirth makes today different than any time previous to May 1948.
- Third Temple Fever
Scripture tells us that the antichrist will defile a still future Jewish temple (Daniel 9:27; Matthew 24:15; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4). In a recent article, The Biblical Necessity of a Third Jewish Temple, I demonstrate why the building of the third Jewish temple is a necessity for the fulfillment of biblical prophecy.
If we can trust the words of Scripture, there must be a third temple in Jerusalem by the midpoint of the coming seven-year Tribulation. That’s when the Bible says the antichrist will desecrate it. Do we see evidence today that this will happen? Absolutely!
Just ten years ago, few people could have imagined today’s passion in Israel for the building of their temple. Did you catch the celebration in Jerusalem when the five perfect red heifers arrived there from Texas? The Law requires one perfect red heifer for the purification of the temple and its priests.
The Temple Institute in Jerusalem has spent over thirty years researching and preparing furnishings for the third temple. They are currently training Levites to serve as priests in it.
The Israeli government is planning infrastructure for the coming temple, which includes a train that will run from the Ben Gurion Airport to the temple mount as they expect a great many visitors will want to visit the temple. Israel plans to complete this rail system in April of 2023.
This alone makes 2022-2023 far, far different.
- Kicking and Ready
In October, I wrote Globalism, War, Economic Turmoil, Devaluing Human Life — The Day of The Lord Is Looming. In it, I provided evidence for just how close the world is to the conditions described in Revelation 6:1-8. These verses describe what’s commonly referred to as the “four riders of the Apocalypse.” They are kicking in their stall, ready to start their trek across the planet.
Revelation 6:8 says that the death toll from the chaos caused by these riders will total one-fourth of the world’s population, which today would be about two billion people.
World events today demonstrate just how easily the seal judgments could result in such a high death toll.
- Digital Currency
If people can buy and sell goods on a cash basis, it would be impossible for the antichrist to control commerce in the way that Revelation 13:16-18 predicts.
The fulfillment of this prophecy requires the elimination of cash, and that is precisely what we see in our world.
The New York Federal Reserve in the U.S. recently began a twelve-week pilot program evaluating the use of a digital dollar using credit card companies and global banks. Leo Hohmann, a blogger, author, and investigative reporter, wrote this about the coming digital currency:
“I believe the new Central Bank Digital Currency, or CBDCs, will make their debut in 2023. And this digital currency will tie in directly with the digital health certificates on people’s cellphones in what will become a personal dossier on every individual, tracking and monitoring their movements and behaviors.” [ii]
The normality of using cash for purchases is slipping away, and with it, any privacy regarding our finances. The digital currency will enable governments to monitor how we spend our money, and soon after that, they will control it.
Both India and China are rapidly moving toward a digital currency.
- Digital Health Passports
At the November 2022 meeting of G20 nations in Indonesia, leaders of the largest economies in the world agreed to work together to implement a “digital health passport” that will begin by tracking everyone’s vaccine status and expand from there.
This is also an absolute necessity for what the antichrist has planned for the latter half of the Tribulation. His system must instantly recognize whether one truly has his mark on them, and it will.
Below is the path that elite powerbrokers of our world have laid out for the future:
- Eliminate cash through a worldwide digital currency
- Combine one’s online identity for banking with a digital health passport
- Monitor all spending, which is simple with a Central Bank Digital Currency
- Reward or punish people based on their spending habits
- Totally control all spending
- Implement what we refer to as the mark of the beast (Revelation 13)
We already see many of these things happening in China.
- Mark of the Beast Technology
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, along with the development of gigantic computer databases, also makes today unique from any other previous time in history.
Prior to these technical advances of the past dozen years or so, the antichrist would have needed an exceedingly large number of people in every nation on earth in order to enforce the requirement of his mark for all buying and selling. It would have been impossible.
Now, with recent advances in AI and the 5G global network, the technology exists for one person to set the parameters and thus control commerce everywhere in the world. These technical innovations not make the fulfillment of Revelation 13:16-18 not only possible but also increasingly likely when one considers the agenda of the globalists!
- Is It Really Human?
How will the coming man of lawlessness exercise complete control over the earth’s population, such as we see in Revelation 13 and elsewhere in Scripture? The answer is transhumanism.
Transhumanism is the combination of humans with machines, and it’s not only something that the antichrist needs, but it’s also a high priority of the WEF and all the many nations that are now committed to its Great Reset.
Please refer to Transhumanism: Marching Toward the Mark in which I explain how the globalists’ development of technology for this dovetails perfectly with the fulfillment of Revelation 13:16-18.
Did you know that Joe Biden recently signed an executive order requiring Americans to comply with the push for transhumanism?
Transhumanism is necessary for controlling people in the coming kingdom of the antichrist.
- The Soon Arrival of One-World Governance
The books of Daniel and Revelation predict that in the last days, a worldwide government will exist and that for an abbreviated time, the antichrist will rule over it (Daniel 7:23-25, 8:18-26; Revelation 13:1-18).
The UN’s Agenda 2030 is all about establishing a global governance by 2030, if not well before that year. The Great Reset of the World Economic Forum (WEF), also known as Build Back Better, is the economic companion of Agenda 2030, and both groups have united in their push to establish a one-world government.
The rapidly forming one-world government only remains a secret to those who don’t want to believe that it’s happening.
- Worship of Creation Rather than the Creator
In the book of Revelation, we see the presence of a one-world religion under the leadership of the false prophet.
Do we see the rise of such a unified religion today? Absolutely! The stage is fully prepared for this to happen.
In November 2022, religious leaders from all over the world reenacted the giving of the Ten Commandments. However, the top ten things on their minds consisted of worshipping nature, that of preserving their god. Combating climate change has become the religion bringing together many diverse faiths as they worship the creation rather than the Creator.
- When the World Wobbles
Since 2001, the earth’s magnetic north pole has been moving. An article on the Forbes Magazine website, Earth’s Magnetic North Pole Is Shifting Dramatically From A Powerful Tug Of War, discussed how this shift has speeded up in recent years.
Why do I include this in the list of 12 signs? It’s because of warnings of what happens when the pole shift may reach forty degrees. That’s the point at which the north and south poles will swap places. [iii]
What’s so significant about this?
The Bible tells us that during the Tribulation period, the world will wobble (see Isaiah 24:19-20 and Revelation 6:12-17). I find it more than a little curious that what many predict will happen at the time of the pole shift matches what these prophetic passages say will happen during the Day of the Lord. It’s much more than a coincidence.
- You Don’t Really Believe that, do You?
2 Peter 3:2-4 says that scoffers will arise in the “last days” that will mock our hope in Jesus’ soon return. Jude 17-18 also warns of “scoffers” that will come in the last days that will ridicule our hope.
This time has surely arrived!
It’s commonplace today for people to mock our hope in Jesus’ soon appearing. Sadly, even believers and leaders of churches have also joined the chorus of naysayers.
It’s because of this mocking that I included two chapters on church history in my book, The Triumph of the Redeemed. Scoffers today use the relative newness of the word “Rapture” to reject the event that Paul describes for us in 1 Corinthians 15:51-58, Philippians 3:20-21, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11, and Titus 2:11-14. It’s as if the term itself discredits the words of the apostle in these passages.
Such mocking is all about Satan deceiving people into believing that there’s no such event as Jesus’ appearing to take His church to glory. Don’t fall for his lie.
- Perilous Times Are Here Again
We live during a time of perilous times on steroids. While the characteristics of this that Paul lists in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 have always been evident in some ways since the time he wrote, they now define our world just as the apostle said they would in the last days.
More than at any previous time, we see these nineteen characteristics abounding throughout the world. This is something I have written about many times.
Running Out of the Old Normal Means that Jesus’ New Normal is Ever So Close
Just as with King Belshazzar of Babylon, the handwriting is on the wall (see Daniel 5). Perhaps the end will not come as swiftly as it did for this ancient king (the Medes and Persians killed him just hours after Daniel interpreted God’s message). The signs, however, reveal that God’s judgment will soon fall on this world. After the Rapture of the church, God’s wrath will devastate the world.
The good news is that the glorious new normal that Jesus is bringing will last forever.
When Jesus returns and reigns over the earth from Jerusalem, we will experience life in a glorious kingdom as we reign with Him for a thousand years. This will be a “new normal” worth celebrating, but the future is even brighter and more joyous! Revelation 21-22 describes the most blissful set of circumstances imaginable.
Refuse to be satisfied with the fake “new normal” that the world offers. Once we meet Jesus in the air and return to glory with Him, what we see then will make our very best days in this life seem mundane and boring.
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My book, The Triumph of the Redeemed-An eternal Perspective that Calms Our Fears in Perilous Times, is available on Amazon. In it, I provide a solid biblical basis for our hope in Jesus’ appearing. He is coming for us soon!
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[i] Snobele, Stephen D., Statement on the date 2060, March 2003; updated May 2003 and June 2003 – Taken from a website titled “Isaac Newton Theology, Prophecy, Science and Religion.”
[ii] Leo Hohmann, Health minister tells G20 nations they must implement WHO-approved ‘digital health certificates’ tracking all human movement for ‘next pandemic’, November 15, 2022, @ https://leohohmann.com/2022/11/15/health-minister-tells-g20-nations-they-must-implement-who-approved-digital-health-certificates-tracking-all-human-movement-for-next-pandemic/
See also the Reuters report at: https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/banking-giants-new-york-fed-start-12-week-digital-dollar-pilot-2022-11-15/
[iii] My recent information on this comes from the Facebook page of John Traczyk. He appears to be credible and has information on his page backed up by experts. I am still learning about this, but it very much seems to be such a sign of the nearing Tribulation that I could not leave it out from my list.